Fluent Essays

Length: 2 pages. No less. Not much more. Works Cited page does not count as part of paper length Format: MLA. See Purdue's OWL MLA format website. Topic: In this two-page paper, I would like for you to make a connection between what you've read and what is going on in the world. You don't have to try to address everything (nor could you), but just make a connection between something that you've read and something that is currently on your mind in our culture. It could be politics, health, power, race, gender, sexuality, jobs. . . anything, really. You could use a couple of the texts as support for your point, but I don't think I would try to talk about more than two texts in a paper that is this brief. " You could use a couple of the texts as support for your point", that is those PowerPoint you have been writing about.   3 Attachments © 2013 W. W. Norton Co., Inc. Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess” Poetry © 2013 W. W. Norton Co., Inc. * Robert Browning (1806–1861) Browning married the already famous poetess Elizabeth Barrett, and they were considered one of the happiest couples of the century. Students may find it interesting that Mrs. Browning was significantly older than her husband, was partially invalid, and was sequestered from the outside world by an overly protective father (in fact, they eloped rather than had a traditional marriage). Browning had tried publishing standard love verse but his work fared poorly; today, his most popular poetry remains those works that we can categorize as dramatic monologues. * © 2013 W. W. Norton Co., Inc. Questions for Discussion Describe the dramatic situation. Characterize the speaker in detail. How is each aspect of his character suggested? What do his descriptions of the painting and statue tell you about him? What does the poem suggest about the nature of men's and women's roles through its characterization of the duke and his characterization of his “last duchess”? What assumptions does the duke make about his former wife? What assumptions do you make? What role does remarriage play in the work? * This poem contains no commentary and no obvious reflection; it is almost purely a straight dramatic situation. Because it is spoken by a single character, this kind of poem is often called a dramatic monologue. Characteristic of the dramatic monologue is a gradual revelation of the situation and the speaker's character. Was the Duke justified in his jealousy? Does a woman have any control over her blushing or other gestures if she is complimented? * © 2013 W. W. Norton Co., Inc. LITERATURE THE NORTON INTRODUCTION TO Kelly J. Mays * For more learning resources, visit the StudySpace: http://wwnorton.com/litweb © 2013 W. W. Norton Co., Inc. LitWeb Workshop: Susan Glaspell’s “A Jury of Her Peers” wwnorton.com/litweb Fiction © 2013 W. W. Norton Co., Inc. * Susan Glaspell (1876–1948) Susan Glaspell grew up in Iowa and worked for the Des Moines Daily News. She also published magazine stories in Harper’s and the Ladies’ Home Journal. Her plays were performed by Provincetown Playhouse, a stage company that she and her husband, theater director George Cram Cook, founded in 1915 in Cape Cod. * © 2013 W. W. Norton Co., Inc. “A Jury of Her Peers” Hossack Case (1900–01) Des Moines Daily News, Iowa women’s rights in 1917 realism * Glaspell covered the murder case of Margaret Hossack, for which she wrote more than 20 articles in the Des Moines Daily News, concerning a woman accused of murdering her husband with an axe while he slept in their farmhouse bedroom. Hossack’s claims that she had slept through the attack, but her known history of domestic disputes with her husband led to her arrest and trial. She was initially convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison, but the Iowa State Supreme Court overturned the verdict in 1902, and her second trial ended in a hung jury. In 1917, at the time Glaspell wrote “A Jury of Her Peers,” women could not vote or serve on juries in most of the United States, and they were discouraged from jury service even after the Nineteenth Amendment passed (the exclusion of women from juries was not eradicated from all states until 1975). Many of Glaspell’s works belong to realism—a movement that places a plot and ordinary characters in a specific time, milieu, and culture. The image is a photograph of the Hossack family in 1892. Courtesy of Daniel J. Lawrence. * © 2013 W. W. Norton Co., Inc. Glaspell as Journalist “Mrs. Hossack’s Parting Plea” (April 19, 1901): “‘Sheriff Hodson, tell my children not to weep for me. I am innocent of the horrible murder of my husband. Some day people will know I am not guilty of that terrible crime.’ Those were the parting words of Margaret Hossack, the Indianola murderess, to Sheriff Hodson when she was turned over to the prison warden at Anamosa penitentiary last night. All along she was proclaimed her innocence of the murder and hopes the time is near at hand when the real murderess or murderer will be found out and punished. It is universally believed at Indianola that if Mrs. Hossack did not murder her husband she knows who did.” * Students might examine Glaspell’s writing style as a journalist compared to her literary style in “A Jury of Her Peers.” What devices, structure, and tone does she use in news correspondence versus short stories? This is also an opportunity, perhaps, to compare Glaspell as a journalist to Stephen Crane as a news correspondent (his “The Open Boat” is based on a personal experience with surviving a shipwreck, for which he also published a news account). * © 2013 W. W. Norton Co., Inc. Excerpt from “A Jury of Her Peers” “Did you want to see what Mrs. Peters was going to take in?” The county attorney picked up the apron. He laughed. “Oh, I guess they’re not very dangerous things the ladies have picked out.” Mrs. Hale’s hand was on the sewing basket in which the box was concealed. She felt that she ought to take her hand off the basket. She did not seem able to . . . But he did not take it up. With another little laugh, he turned away, saying: “No; Mrs. Peters doesn’t need supervising. For that matter, a sheriff’s wife is married to the law. Ever think of it that way, Mrs. Peters?”(pars.277-282) * This excerpt, near the story’s end, illustrates the sexist assumptions made by male characters in the story. Because the women have picked up sewing materials, and because one of the women is married to a law enforcement official, the men assume that the women have nothing to cover up. * © 2013 W. W. Norton Co., Inc. Discussion Questions Why do the women hide the bird at the story’s end? Why do you think Glaspell gave this story a different title from the play she wrote covering this same material (Trifles)? How do the two titles emphasize different themes conveyed by the plot? Explain why “stillness” carries a sense of dread and misery for Mrs. Hale. What does this word mean for women in the story? * The story shows the different ways that men and women read and experience the world. The tense gender divides in your students’ reactions will likely illustrate that women generally defend while men condemn the women’s decision not to reveal the evidence they have gathered of Minnie’s guilt. The men are the authorities in the story, and they make known their contempt for women’s things, their “trifles.” The women, of course, succeed because of their focus on trifles but, as the story suggests, their perspective is not the empowered one. * © 2013 W. W. Norton Co., Inc. Group Activity & Write-Up Students will gather in groups of six, sub-dividing into the defense, prosecution, and jury. Groups will spend 15 minutes forming an argument with evidence gathered from the text to support their contentions. Each side presents its case and the jury provides a verdict. Share results with the class. * Many students may not yet have had the opportunity or desire to sit on a jury and witness the proceedings for a trial. This activity gives students the occasion to think about the roles that various people play in a courtroom, as well as how emotions and biases arise depending on the community. * © 2013 W. W. Norton Co., Inc. Suggestions for Writing Several of the statements made during the testimony are based on flawed arguments and assumptions. Write a paper in which you discuss the presence of logical fallacies in Glaspell’s work. Do these statements bear more influence on the outcome than the neutral and factual statements? As a reader, were you biased by the flawed arguments, or were you able to make an objective evaluation of the accused? * © 2013 W. W. Norton Co., Inc. LITERATURE THE NORTON INTRODUCTION TO Kelly J. Mays For more learning resources, visit the StudySpace: http://wwnorton.com/litweb * © 2013 W. W. Norton Co., Inc. LitWeb Workshop: William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” wwnorton.com/litweb Fiction © 2013 W. W. Norton Co., Inc. * William Faulkner (1897– 1962) Faulkner grew up in Oxford, Mississippi in Lafayette County, which is the basis of the fictional town of Jefferson in Yoknapatawpha County, where many of Faulkner’s works are set (including “ A Rose for Emily”). * © 2013 W. W. Norton Co., Inc. Oxford, Mississippi * Families of mixed ethnic and financial backgrounds inhabited the area, including the descendants of black slaves, farmers, the “planter class,” and Chickasaw Indians. * © 2013 W. W. Norton Co., Inc. * “A Rose for Emily” southern gothic “disturbed people doing disturbing things” strange characters macabre occurrences “grotesque” social issues, behavioral codes taboo topics Southern gothic literature focuses on “disturbed people doing disturbed things.” The genre is characterized by odd characters, strange and morbid events, and the grotesque, using these themes to explore issues unique to the American South (i.e. the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the enduring legacy of slavery and discrimination), particularly related to social and behavioral codes. Themes of incest, murder, suicide, sexual depravity, and mental illness are traditional fare in southern gothic literature. * © 2013 W. W. Norton Co., Inc. Excerpt, “Authors on their Work”: William Faulkner From Faulkner at Nagano (1956) [Faulkner]: I feel sorry for Emily’s tragedy; her tragedy was, she was an only child, an only daughter. At the time when she could have found a husband, could have had a life of her own, there was probably some one, her father, who said, “No, you must stay here and take care of me.” And then when she found a man, she had no experience in people. She picked out probably a bad one, who was about to desert her. And when she lost him she could see that for her that was the end of life, there was nothing left, except to grow older, alone, solitary; she had had something and she wanted to keep it, which is bad—to go to any length to keep something; but I pity Emily. I don’t know whether I would have liked her or not, I might have been afraid of her. Not of her but of anyone who had suffered, had been warped, as her life had probably been warped by a selfish father. * From Faulkner at Nagano (1956) * © 2013 W. W. Norton Co., Inc. Questions for Discussion Who is Emily, what is she a monument to, and why does she deserve a rose? What role does time sequence play in this story? How are gender and voice linked in this story, not only in roles played by the characters but also in the town’s values? Is the story’s ending a shocking revelation? What do you believe was Faulkner’s motive? * One of the most obvious characteristics of this story is its elaborate and complex treatment of historical time—there are three specific times mentioned: the 1870s, when the house was built; the present, with garages and gasoline pumps (probably the 1920s); and the 1860s, the time of the Civil War battle of Jefferson. The townspeople are given only limited glimpses of Emily, yet they construct an entire life for her based on what they imagine. Is the narrator’s position clear? The narrator’s gender is never revealed, though sexism (both in our assumptions about the narrator and in the narrator’s and townspeople’s assumptions about Emily) plays an important role in the story. * © 2013 W. W. Norton Co., Inc. Group Activity & Write-Up Create a news column. Faulkner explained that his choice of title for this work was allegorical; he, as author, is honoring a woman who had experienced a terrible tragedy. In this activity, use journalism techniques to develop a very short article on the events surrounding Emily’s life. The article may take the form of a tabloid, editorial, letter to the editor, or front page news. * Students may not be familiar with the term “allegory”—a literary device used by authors to symbolically represent abstract ideas using characters and events. In this story, Emily symbolizes the Old South, with its cruelty and injustice, while the rose represents the pity one feels toward this dejected society. This activity will help students understand the differences between a work of fiction, where the meaning usually isn’t revealed until the story’s end, and a news article, in which the lead is announced from the outset. * © 2013 W. W. Norton Co., Inc. Suggestions for Writing What societal values are treated in “A Rose for Emily,” and does Faulkner address them with criticism, nostalgia, praise, or other? How are the narrator’s values reflected in or differentiated from those of his society? Compare the motives and outcomes of the murders committed in Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” and Glaspell’s “A Jury of Her Peers.” Are these women heroines? Were their crimes justified? Understandable? * © 2013 W. W. Norton Co., Inc. LITERATURE THE NORTON INTRODUCTION TO Kelly J. Mays * For more learning resources, visit the StudySpace: http://wwnorton.com/litweb